Nevill Drury
# Nevill Drury

Nevill Drury (1 October 1947 – 15 October 2013) was an English-born Australian editor and publisher, as well as the author of over 40 books on subjects ranging from shamanism and western magical traditions to art, music, and anthropology. His books have been published in 26 countries and in 19 languages.

## Early life

Born in Hastings, England in 1947, Drury moved to Australia at the age of nine. He attended Sydney University in the late 1960s and later earned his Master of Arts (honours) degree in anthropology from Macquarie University. He received his PhD from the School of Humanities and Social Research, University of Newcastle in 2008 for a dissertation on the visionary art and magical beliefs of Rosaleen Norton.

## Career

In 1970, Drury was an English teacher at West Wyalong High School in the Riverina District of NSW. In 1976, he began working in the Australian book industry. He was a former managing editor for the holistic journal Nature and Health. A former managing editor for Harper and Row and Doubleday in Australia, he helped found the specialist visual arts publishing company Craftsman House in 1981, which became Australia's leading art book imprint.

Drury worked full-time as publishing director of this company from 1989 to January 2000. He also co-edited Australian Painting Now, which was published in the UK and US by Thames & Hudson. He was briefly the manager of Adyar Bookshop in Sydney (2008-2012).

### Writing and lecturing

Drury was a prolific author of books on shamanism, spirituality, and different forms of magical practice. His many books include the first serious overview of occultism in Australia: Other Temples, Other Gods (co-written with Gregory Tillet). Others include Don Juan, Mescalito and Modern Magic, The Occult Experience (the book of an award-winning documentary he co-produced and narrated released in 1985 featuring, among others, Margot Adler, Selena Fox, Alex Sanders, Janet and Stewart Farrar, and H. R. Giger), and Pan's Daughter: the first biography of Australian artist and witch Rosaleen Norton.

He authored several books on Australian art, including the three-volume Images series. Artist Matthew Tobin (Creative Director, Urban Arts Projects ) described Drury as

   ...one of those most responsible for Aboriginal art's growth (he discovered Rover Thomas, Clifford Possum and Emily Kame Kngwarreye)

His books have been translated into 19 languages. Since 1980 he was a speaker and workshop facilitator on subjects such as magical visualization and shamanic drumming. He was both an interviewer and a guest on several programs on Australian television, including the ABC Television shows The Ark and Compass, as a spokesperson for the New Spirituality. He has also lectured at the University of Queensland, Australia.

## Awards

* Bronze Award for documentary The Occult Experience at the 1985 International Film and Television Festival of New York
* Silver Award in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards, New York (2004) for The New Age : Searching for the Spiritual Self (In the USA: The New Age: The History of a Movement) Thames & Hudson UK / Thames & Hudson Inc. Category: "Mind Body Spirit".
* Best PhD in the School of Humanities, University of Newcastle 2008
* Most Significant Publication Arising from a Research PhD, (chapter on the 'Modern Magical Revival' published in M. Pizza and J.R. Lewis [ed], Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, Brill, Leiden 2009), University of Newcastle 2008

## Personal life

Nevill married three times – to Susan Pinchin (their three children being: Rebecca, Megan and Ben), to writer Anna Voigt, and to Lesley Andrews-Buffard. From 2008 onwards he lived in and around the small rural town of Milton, on the New South Wales south coast. In retirement his interests included drawing in pastels, gardening, lecturing for the U3A organization, learning how to play slide guitar on a dobro, and singing in a local gospel choir.

## Death

Drury suffered various cancers and complications and was found to have advanced liver failure. He died at home on 15 October 2013 aged 66. He was survived by his wife Lesley, his three children, Rebecca, Megan and Ben, and his grandchildren Jethro, Isabella, Madeleine, Archie and Zara.

